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Gale Boetticher
Gale Boetticher is a chemist hired by Gus Fring to help set up the new laboratory and serve as Walt's "lab assistant". He holds an MS degree in organic chemistry, with a specialty in X-ray crystallography. He describes himself as a "libertarian" and a "nerd". He is quite cultured, and an intellectual equal to Walt. As a side project, he is working on a process for brewing a superior cup of coffee, and impresses Walt with his results . On Walt's second day of work at the new superlab, he accuses Gale of making a mistake by setting the wrong temperature on one of the tanks. He assures Walt that he was told to set it at 75 degrees as he had this written down in his notes, but Walt angrily tells him that he must have heard him wrong and that there's no room for this kind of negligence in chemistry . The next day, Gale finds out that he is being replaced and is, understandably, confused as to what he has done wrong. Walt tells him that although he sees Gale as a promising young chemist, the two of them work at different frequencies. Using music as his analogy, he refers to himself as "classical" and Gale as "jazz," saying that although there is nothing wrong with jazz, Walt requires classical. Its at this point that Gale meets his replacement, Jesse . With Jesse later on the run, Gus, without consulting with Walt, re-hires Gale to replace Jesse as Walt's lab assistant. Gale has seemed to forgive Walt as they are seen shaking hands and Gale promises that there'll be no mistakes this time. Later that day, Gus makes an unexpected visit as Gale's apartment, informing him about Walt's medical conditions. He tells Gale that if push comes to shove, he will have to take over the lab as soon as possible. Gus presses Gale to learn the formula as fast as possible and Gales tells Gus that he needs a few more cooking sessions to be comfortable. After Gus gives Gale a long look, Gale tells Gus that he will need one more cook with Walt and then he will be prepared to take over. Walt, knowing that Gus needs at least one chemist who knows the "Blue Sky" formula to continue cooking, proposes to Jesse that they must kill Gale and since Walt is under constant surveillance, Jesse has to be the one to do it. Jesse declines, but assists in the plan by tracking Gale back to his apartment and gives Walt the address so he can do the job himself. As Walt is leaving his house, he is confronted by Victor and is told that he must go to the labratory at once, since there has been a leak. Arriving at the laundromat, he is led to the lab and encounters Mike who tells White that he needs to go down and fix the problem. Walt, who by now has realized that this is a ruse to get him down into the lab where he is going to be killed, pleads with Mike and tells him that he "... doesn't have to do this." Failing to negotiate and fearing for his own life, Walt tells Mike that he will work for free and pleads for his life. He offers to to give up Jesse in exchange for his life. Walt phones Jesse, and tells Jesse that he must kill Gale now or Victor and Mike will kill him. Mike and Victor question Walt as to what the nature of the phone call meant and Walt reveals that they know where Gale lives revealing their plot to kill Gale. At Gale's apartment, Mike tries to call and warn him, but Gale's loud music hides the sound of his ringing cellphone. Gale answers the knock at his door to find Jesse, who pulls out a gun and levels it at Gale's head. It is not immediately clear if Gale recognizes Jesse, his replacement at the lab. At the time they met, Jesse's face was severely swollen and bruised after being beaten by Hank. Gale pleads for his life, telling Jesse that he "doesn't have to do this." With tears in his eyes, a gunshot is fired, presumably killing Gale . Category:Characters